L'Addestratore
by Oktober Blues
Summary: When a girl and her dog is killed via vehicular homicide on an afternoon walk, the fayth offer to revive them in exchange for a helping hand. Unfortunately, she really doesn't know what she's signed herself up for.... Revamp of the original, R
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: The author of this fan fiction claims no ownership whatsoever over any and all copyrighted or trademarked materials that may appear within this fan fiction, including but not limited to Final Fantasy X and all it may entail. No profit of any sort was made from either the production or publication of this fan fiction. This disclaimer shall stand for all installments of this fan fiction and will not be repeated unless requested.

02.15.2009: I will not address this issue again, so listen up: this is a revamped version of a story that was posted about a year ago under the same name. I'm not proud of how I abandoned it, and unfortunately, I no longer have the original chapters. I'd like to think this version is new and improved, but I'll leave that up to you good people to decide. Enjoy.

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**L'ADDESTRATORE**

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_Don't tell me if I'm dyin', _

'_Cause I don't wanna know._

_If I can't see the sun, _

_Maybe I should go._

_Don't wake me 'cause I'm dreamin',_

_Of angels on the moon._

_Where everyone you know,_

_Never leaves too soon._

- 'Angels on the Moon', Thriving Ivory

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I really couldn't tell you why I've always been a dog person.

I don't think it's because of any single reason, either. Great Aunt Marge is the stereotypical old woman, the poor spinster in the old Victorian house across the street who might as well be running a shelter for homeless cats the world over. I hated going to visit her as a kid, because the moment I stepped into her house, I knew I could say good-bye to breathing fresh air. She always made me hold Snickers, her favorite tomcat. Apparently she never realized how deeply Snickers and I loathed one another.

I've always sort of thought critters like hamsters and birds were pointless. They don't seem to register or acknowledge you the way dogs -- and occasionally cats -- do. I used to have a ferret once upon a time. Admittedly, the little guy was pretty cool. He was my attack ferret; he bit people on command.

But dogs…

There's this saying I love: the dog is the god of frolic. They are incurably happy little bastards, and I suppose that is why I have always loved them. It's the way their eyes light up and their tales start thumping the floor a mile a minute when you walk into the room. They know if they succeed in looking cute enough, they just might get that extra scrap of bacon sitting on your plate at breakfast. And most importantly, they are unswervingly loyal to their masters.

The day of my tenth birthday, my parents finally caved to my incessant begging and bought me a brand new puppy. Of course, they gave me the usual rundown -- "Now, Brittany, this is _your _dog. _You_ feed it, _you_ play with it, _you_ make sure it does its business outside, and we don't ever want to hear anything about any more pets ever again, blah, blah, blah…."

He was the best dog I had ever laid eyes on.

I can still remember how tiny he seemed when I first held him in my arms. He was a purebred German Shepherd, with a deep copper-red coat and a perfect blanket of obsidian covering his back. No tar heels, gorgeous russet eyes, black nose. He was quiet, a trait Mom and Dad were deeply grateful for.

I named him Auron.

At the time, I was obsessed with finishing the new Final Fantasy game out on the market, and my favorite character was a warrior named Auron. My Auron seemed to be the perfect embodiment of him in dog form, right down to the red in his fur and the reserved nature of his personality. Eight years later, I kind of find the name to be a little childish, but it's too late to change that now.

Auron is going to be euthanized on Monday.

German Shepherds seem to get a lot of bad publicity. I am one of those people who firmly believe in the concept that there are no bad dogs, simply bad owners, and neither Auron or I fit into that category. I was dedicated to training him when he was younger, and he exhibited the intelligence his breed is renowned for. He picked up quickly on how bad biting was, where it was okay to take a whiz, and which things were his to play with. It was relatively easy to groom him into becoming a wonderful family companion as well as a protective guard dog. In short, Auron is not a bad dog.

The new neighbors who moved in next door do not agree with me. Their irresponsible brat, a kid younger than me only by a few years or so, decided it would be a great game to start throwing rocks at Auron while he was in his kennel in the back yard. Ten points to hit him, twenty to hit his head. Said brat even convinced his twin siblings to join in on the fun.

As the story goes, one of the idiots decided to start poking him with a stick through the chain links. They claim they were going to let him out of the kennel to play fetch, but our other neighbor -- who witnessed the whole incident -- says she never had that impression.

Anyway, the brats were tormenting my dog. As I've stated, Auron is a smart pup. He knew how to get out of his kennel, and the moment he did, that little bastard went down. The kid went home crying to his mommy and daddy, nursing some minor bite wounds on his arm. Auron (who was trained to deal with intruders, mind you), stayed calmly in the yard and waited like a good boy.

Long story short, the parents reported the incident to the authorities, and the law demands justice, which apparently means Auron must be killed for merely doing what he was trained to do. It still irks me that the kids were stupid enough to come into our yard uninvited, despite the numerous signs we have around the property stating to 'BEWARE OF DOG'.

The whole incident makes me sick to my stomach.

A knock on my door paused my thoughts of making a mad dash for the bathroom. I can always tell who is standing outside my door; Mom just walks right in, where Dad is actually considerate enough to knock a couple of times before entering.

"Come in," I called from my place on the bed.

As predicted, my dear old pop walked in. He looked so awkward, just standing there, kind of wringing his hands. He gets this huge line in his forehead when he worries, makes him look at least a decade older than his thirty-nine years.

"What can I do for you, Dad?" I asked. I peered at his upside-down form with curiosity, hanging my torso off the edge of the bed and letting my blood rush to my brain.

"Well, kid, I think… I think maybe you should take Auron for a walk. Or something. Get him out of the house, you know, before…." Another wrinkle dented his forehead.

I scowled, which probably looked kind of funny. The last thing I felt like doing was getting out of the house. Who knew what would happen if I ran into those stupid little neighbor brats….

"Come on, Brit. Don't you think he deserves to… have fun? Before…." Again, he couldn't bring himself to say the words.

But I felt my resolve weakening. It wasn't fair to Auron to be cooped up in the house simply because I was sulking. His last days truly did deserve to be happy ones, and what a sad owner I would be if I didn't do my best to make them that way.

"You're right," I admitted bitterly. I still didn't cherish the idea of leaving the house, but for Auron, I would do anything. I righted myself and swung my feet over the edge to stand up. "So, do you want to come with? I might take him down by the skate park, see if Jenny's there."

Jenny was my father's sister's daughter. She was older than me by several years but was still clinging to her high school image, which included lots of flannel, torn jeans, and a skateboard permanently glued to her feet. The skate park was her favorite place in the city to hang out on the weekends.

Dad shook his head. "I think I'll pass, kiddo. Your mother and I are thinking about heading over to the Wilson's for a barbeque."

I grabbed Auron's leash from the closet and walked downstairs with Dad while he chattered about the Wilson's latest idea for their weekly couple's night, though I paid little attention to him. Autumn had crept up on everyone without warning. A few weeks ago, it was sixty degrees and sunny outside. Today was cloudy, with a doubtful high of fifty. I tugged on a jacket as I headed out to the garage, leaving Dad in the kitchen.

Auron stood up from his makeshift bed as I opened the garage door. His tail wagged softly in greeting, and I fought back tears. I hooked the leash to his collar and gave his ears an affectionate rub. "Hey, big guy."

As we made our way down the street, I began to feel a little bit better. We lived in a pretty peaceful neighborhood, quiet, without a lot of traffic. There weren't a lot of distractions to keep my mind busy. I was free to appreciate the beauty of my favorite season; how the green of the trees were transforming into vibrant reds, faded pinks, and sunny golds, or the way the sun was beginning to set just a little bit earlier in the evening. It looked like Mrs. Thomas' pumpkins were coming along nicely. Even crabby Mr. Johnson seemed to be in a good mood, nodding a hello from his porch as we passed his driveway.

The skate park was about a twenty minute walk from the house. Thankfully, there was only one busy road to cross on our way there. It always made me nervous, crossing Park, because hardly anybody bothered to follow the speed limit. The police were kind of lax in the area; the put most of their effort into patrolling around the high school a mile or two down the road.

We stopped at the curb, waiting for a few cars to pass. Auron waited patiently at my side, his eyes following the cars as they sped to the bottom of the hill. My cell phone began to ring in my pocket, blaring the beginning of 'The Hamster Dance' -- Jenny's chosen ring tone.

"What's up?" I answered. Glancing in both directions, I tugged on Auron's leash and began to cross the road.

Jenny said something, but I didn't get the chance to hear whatever it was. Her words were drowned out by the roar of an engine, and before I could register what was happening, I found myself lying awkwardly on the pavement. The static in my ears was punctured only by the sharp yelp of a dog, and then… silence….

I dazedly wondered what happened to my cell phone. I could have sworn I was talking on it just a few minutes ago. That stupid ring tone… oh, how I hated that ring tone….

I don't know how long I laid there before I noticed someone trying to speak to me. The words were barely audible, and I struggled to comprehend them.

"…pulse is weak… about the dog?…."

I heard bits and pieces of the conversation going on around me. The thing that kept jumping out at me was the word 'dog'. I asked -- or tried to, anyway -- several times if anything had happened to Auron, but nobody answered the question. Either that, or they simply didn't hear it.

It took me a minute to realize there was just… pain… everywhere.

"Auron?"

There was a sudden jolt, like static rolling through my body, and then nothing. Oddly enough, this was when I felt most aware of the situation. It was as though I was paralyzed, blind, and deaf all at once. Panic gripped my brain in an iron grasp.

There was nothing. Nothing! How was that even possible?

I was more afraid than I can ever remember being before, but there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. I felt like someone was binding me in place, like they had taken away my free will. The only thing I had left was my thoughts. I desperately needed to know what happened to Auron.

"Don't cry," a voice suddenly told me.

There was something about the voice that instantly calmed and soothed me. It was ageless, androgynous, and everywhere at once. It felt like water washing over me, gently wiping the worry away.

I wondered if I had imagined it.

"What's going on?" I asked tentatively, and then immediately started at the sound of my own voice. It sounded so small in comparison. Insignificant.

"You are dead," it informed me calmly.

Confusion and shock hit me like a slap in the face. "Uhm… what?"

"You are dead." The words were slower this time, as if that would help me to comprehend them any better, and colored with a tingling sense of amusement.

"No, I'm not!"

There was a vibrancy in the voice's laughter, a familiar quality about it I couldn't quite put my finger on. The chuckling died away with a slight echo. "Yes, you are."

I was flabbergasted. It made perfect sense, but at the same time, it didn't. I decided to roll with the punches, however, and thought this was going to make for one hell of a story when I woke up. "What happened to Auron?"

"You aren't going to wake up," it said, "and your canine friend is dead, as well."

The words stung, and raw pain seemed to explode from within me. I wanted to yell and scream and tell this mysterious voice that it was lying… but I couldn't. Somehow, I was unable to deny our current state of being. Vaguely, I wondered if I was actually having a conversation with God.

"No."

"Then who are you?" I asked. The mind reading thing was freaky.

The voice ignored my question. "I have a proposition for you, lady trainer."

"What? Life in exchange for my soul?" I muttered sarcastically.

More laughter. "I will return you and your dog to existence, provided you do your best to help us."

I immediately picked up the voice's reference to itself in the plural but decided against questioning it. This all-knowing entity could apparently riffle through my mind like an open book. If it wanted to answer a question, it would do so.

"What's the catch?"

"There is no 'catch'. Your father once assisted us greatly. He gave us hope. We merely wish to repay him this debt, in accordance with his dying wish. He wanted you to experience his world."

I shoved the nagging familiarity of the voice away in favor of thinking of my father. "My dad? But he isn't dead…."

"Your biological father," the voice explained. "The man you know as your father adopted you as just a babe."

"Wow, you just keep piling on the surprises…."

"It is completely your decision, lady trainer. We do not wish to force you into anything."

"Auron will _stay _alive?" I asked sharply, thinking of the scheduled euthanizing.

"Yes."

I took a moment to sort out the facts in my head. One, both Auron and I were newly deceased. I think… I think I do remember the car that hit us. Kind of. Two, this voice was offering to bring us back to life, under the condition that we helped them. Three, apparently my biological father -- a man who was not Dave -- wanted me to get to know wherever he was from.

So I could be alive again, go possibly visit a foreign country, honor my end of the deal, and then go back home.

"Okay," I said hesitantly. "All right. I'll do it."

The voice didn't respond. I felt a sudden absence that hadn't tinged the nothingness before and belatedly realized the voice was gone. Before I had the chance to wonder if it had even heard my response, I experienced a strong tugging sensation where my belly button used to be. Colors exploded in front of my eyes, and ethereal balls of light began to rise around me. People screaming, singing, crying, moaning -- all around me, I felt people, and then….

Nothing.


	2. Welcome to Spira

02.24.2009: FFN has been giving me problems for the last two days, so please excuse the tardiness of this update. Other than that, thank you to the people who have read or reviewed thus far!

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**CHAPTER I  
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**Welcome to Spira**

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I knew I was alive from the sheer amount of pain coursing through my body.

How vividly the light was shining through my eyelids was a subtle warning to keep them shut until I could adjust to its brightness. The salty tang of sea breeze wafted down to my nose, and the sound of water lapping gently against the shore provided a small clue as to where the voice had dumped me. If there was such a thing as luck, I would open my eyes to a sunny beach in California. I became aware of the warmth beating down on me from above, soothing a little bit of the pain.

The familiarity of the voice was still troubling. I recognized it well enough, but no names came to mind. It was like a question I had momentarily misplaced the answer to. Unfortunately, sunbathing on a beach was getting me nowhere.

"What am I supposed to do?" I wondered aloud. My voice was hoarse, like it had gone unused for an extended amount of time.

As expected, there was no response to the query.

Suddenly, I realized that my canine companion was not by my side. In fact, he wasn't anywhere in the vicinity. The absence of Auron was like a vacuum in the corner of my mind, a void that demanded to be filled. It would have been fascinating, how I could sense his presence like I were some kind of human tracking device, if it weren't for the fact I was still hung up on his being missing.

I opened my eyes, blinking against the harsh rays of the sun shining directly overhead. The sky was an endless powder blue, meeting with the equally pretty blue of the ocean far on the horizon. My muscles screamed in protest as I sat up, taking in my new surroundings.

There was not a single trace of Auron.

The clean white sand of the beach was completely undisturbed by tracks of any kind. It occurred to me that I might have been stranded in a tropical paradise completely untouched by humankind. It was hard to believe a beach this peaceful and beautiful wasn't part of some sort of exotic resort getaway.

"Auron!" I called, though it came out as more of a croak. "Here, Auron!"

The foliage further inland remained motionless, save for a gentle breeze ruffling though the trees. There was no sign of life up or down the beach. After several moments of silence, I was convinced of my solitary. The feeling of his absence persisted, and I knew it was pointless to remain where I was.

With no small amount of effort, I hauled myself into standing position. The first thing I needed to do was scout the area, see if there was any sign of human habitation. If the answer was no, then my top priority became finding a source of fresh water. It was basic Survival 101, courtesy of my eccentric biology teacher from sophomore year; he liked to think he was preparing his students for a zombie outbreak, along with teaching us the science of life.

Because, you know, an encyclopedic knowledge of zombies is way more important than photosynthesis.

The sun drifted slowly to the west as I explored the area, first roaming the length of the beach and then making my way slowly but surely inland. My gut instinct was telling me I had been washed up on an island, an idea supported by the large, cratered mountain towering to the north. It looked volcanic.

Farther inland, past the staggering cliffs that guarded against the ocean, it looked as though the island had been occupied by humans at one point in history. Great domes and rock structures jutted up from the canopy, covered in moss and vines, reminiscent of a lost jungle civilization. Already my mind was telling me the fallen buildings might provide adequate shelter for the night, if it came to that.

My pain dulled as the afternoon dwindled, though it was quickly replaced by dehydration and hunger. I kept my eyes peeled for both Auron and anything that appeared to be edible.

The longer I walked, the less the urgency to find my dog became. I figured this meant I was steadily getting closer to his location -- at least, that is what I hoped it meant. The Auron-shaped hole in the corner of my mind began to fill in little bit by bit, and it motivated me to move more quickly.

Finally, the forest canopy blocked out too much light to continue walking. I squinted in the evening blackness, wincing at the sound of my tennis shoes tromping their way through the undergrowth. I dearly hoped that wherever I was, there were no predators with a taste for human.

I settled under a cliff ledge and leaned back against the rocky wall, determined to catch a little shut eye in spite of the situation. My new sixth sense told me Auron was not far away; there would be plenty of time -- as well as light -- to continue the search for him in the morning.

"I'd really like to know how I'm supposed to help you on this godforsaken island," I muttered, just in case the voice was listening.

Surprisingly, I was able to drift off to sleep in what only felt like a handful of minutes.

Dreams have always felt very real and extremely vivid for me. Tonight proved to be no exception. I dreamed of my death, watched as the sleek red sports car came roaring over the hill, listened expectantly as the brakes screeched in futile. There was a great splatter of blood across the warm pavement of the road. The kid got out of his car, a look of absolute horror twisting his features, and he knelt down next to my fallen body. It played like a song stuck on repeat, again and again. The yelp of my dog was always the loudest, being the only thing I could recall with perfect clarity.

"Auron?"

I had no way of telling the time when I jerked awake in the middle of the night.

It wasn't the dream that had woken me, but I was wiping away tears nonetheless. Something was shifting in the darkness just beyond my field of vision.

I felt pin needles work their way up my arms and down my neck. It definitely wasn't because I was cold; the warm night air was thick with humidity. I strained my eyes as it moved again, watched as a shadow swathed in darkness shuffled slowly closer.

I couldn't find my voice. It had hidden somewhere deep within my throat and vehemently refused to come out, not that I blamed it. The thing -- whatever it was -- was getting ever closer, like it couldn't quite figure out what to make of me, either.

My nose curled in disgust as a foul odor filled the air. Hot breath puffed audibly just a few feet before me. Fear kept me frozen in place. The creature sniffed rapidly, probably attempting to assess what was sitting in front of it.

"…Auron?" My voice came out in a deathly whisper.

I knew instantly, before the name could fully leave my lips, that I was wrong.

Something large and heavy made a sudden lunge. My head snapped backward, hitting the rocks with a solid crack, and I let out a deafening scream of terror. A terrible snarl shocked me back into silence, and I felt blunt nails dig into the soft skin of the crook of my arm, effectively pinning it against the wall.

I was being attacked by an animal. I was so sure I was going to die -- again.

My sixth sense flared, and without a second's hesitation, I hollered at the top of my lungs. "AURON!"

The German Shepherd leaped out of nowhere and caught my attacker in a wicked sideswipe. The two tumbled to the ground in an indecipherable tangle of limbs and vicious snarls. It was too dark for me to make out which was which, though I could hear the difference between the two animals' voices. I scrambled away from the scuffle on all fours, too afraid turn my back in case I was attacked again.

The fight seemed to drag on, and I wished fervently for a bit of light to be able to see what the hell was going on. A rolling growl provided the wonderful mental image of my dog being torn limb from limb by a set of razor sharp teeth. Tears began to stream down my cheeks, and I absently swiped them away. It terrified me, not being able to see anything.

The soft butting of a wet nose against my arm brought me back down from my panic. Startled, I sucked in a breath and scuttled back along the wall even further until I realized it was only Auron.

"Hey, big guy," I sobbed in greeting while clinging to him like a lifeline.

My attention was distracted from the dog as strange orbs of light began to form and cast a soft glow of light across the ground. They looked remarkably similar to something I had experienced after accepting the voice's deal. I watched in fascination as the iridescent lights began to ascend at a lazy, meandering pace.

It was then that I noticed the body lying in the dirt just outside our makeshift shelter.

Auron had managed to tear through the creature's jugular, considering the way its throat was mangled and drenched in blood. It was largely canine in appearance, maybe another foot or two taller than a German Shepherd at the withers, with a creamy golden pelt that looked velvety soft to the touch.

I didn't get the chance to observe much more than that, because the body began to dissolve.

It started at the tail. Fur, flesh, and bone became translucent before fading away altogether, breaking into several of the same glowing orbs of light. The process only took a few seconds before the creature was gone completely, and the lights vanished into thin air not long after.

A sudden chill swept over my skin at the implications of what I had just witnessed.

"Pyreflies," I whispered.

Auron whined softly.

Pyreflies were small bundles of life energy found in everything on Spira in the game Final Fantasy X. They were visible around death, the Moonflow, and Zanarkand. Fiends and unsent were compromised entirely out of the little buggers. They were conduits for memories and past events. I mentally rattled off every single thing I knew about them in astonishment.

I was seeing… pyreflies.

Not wanting to believe what I had seen, I grabbed Auron and sat back against the rock, determined to get more sleep before the night was over. We slept side by side, and I kept one hand buried in the thick fur around his neck the entire time.

I did not dream of death again.

Sunshine woke me up the next morning.

Auron was already wide awake, his russet eyes calmly gazing out into the trees. I gave his ear a brief rub before standing. My muscles were stiff from sitting up all night, and the scratches left on my arm from the attack were an angry red. I did my best to wipe some of the dried blood away, though nothing could be done for the sleeve of my t-shirt. The white cotton blend was stained beyond salvaging.

Sure enough, the body of the beast Auron had killed was gone without a trace. If not for the strange lights (I refused to believe they were pyreflies), I would have been tempted to doubt I'd even been attacked last night.

Now that Auron and I were reunited, my absolute first priority this morning was to find a source of fresh water. The few fruits I had managed to find the previous day contained nowhere near the amount of fluids I would need to keep either myself or my dog sustained. Coconuts, though plentiful, were an absolute bitch to open, a task I had tried -- a failed -- to do before.

"Well, big guy, let's get moving," I muttered.

The longer we walked, the more I began to think myself crazy. The ruins of an ancient civilization no longer reminded me of long lost places hidden in the wildest depths of South America; instead, I was seeing flashes a fictional city called Zanarkand, remembering parts of a video game I hadn't played in years.

It was an insane concept, but the more determined I became to not think of it, the more I actually did.

There was absolutely no way those lights last night had been coincidental. They really were pyreflies. The thing that attacked me was more than likely a fiend, possibly a dingo.

And the island I was currently trekking across -- because there was no longer a doubt in my mind about my location -- was none other than Besaid.

"If I'm right," I glanced excitedly down at Auron, "then the village should be on the other side of the mountain!"

He cocked his head to the side and panted.

My mind began to work more frantically as my feet picked up the pace. If the voice -- Bahamut! -- had placed me on the southernmost face of the island, then the village and the harbor had to be on the northern half. It was the only logical explanation for why I hadn't run into anyone or anything the night before if I'd been walking around all day.

Before I knew what was happening, we were rushing through the trees at a dead sprint. Undergrowth slapped at my legs, tore at my arms, but I kept on running. Finding the village was the only thing I was focused on.

Auron ran slightly behind me, easily keeping up with my sprint at a steady trot. When he began to bark, I didn't think much of it. I figured it was just because he was happy -- excited about running, the usual dog thing.

We burst through the trees, taking me by surprise, and I skidded to a stop in the middle of a worn, very obviously used dirt path. Auron panted next to me, his tail wagging furiously, and he let out another short bark.

The sudden change of scenery left me slightly disoriented. I glanced around, gathering my bearings, and noted how the trail continued up behind us in an incredibly steep incline.

That was when I first saw them.

I will never forget how they looked in that first moment, not for as long as I live. The shorter of the two could have been a model, a football player, a beach bum -- any of the above would have described him nicely. From his bleached blond hair to his dazzlingly white smile to the defined abdominal muscles peaking out from under his clothing, Tidus definitely looked like the star player for the Zanarkand Abes.

In spite of his ragtag islander appearance, there was a certain quality about Wakka that made my draw drop, as well. The game simply hadn't done him any justice in portraying his muscles. The yellow of his outfit was faded from use (apparently Spira wasn't familiar with the wonders of color-safe bleach), and his blue bandana looked like it was sweat soaked from a long day at practice. Despite all that, despite walking alongside Tidus… Wakka had his own brand of "Damn, I'm hot".

"Shit," I said simply.

The last thing I remember is Auron trotting up to Tidus, because after that, everything went black.


End file.
